10nf-5555 - Consolidation of the farmer ownership model for increased market value share for farmers
NUCAFE is the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises. It is the national umbrella association that brings coffee farmers of Uganda together. It is a membership based association representing 125 Associations. NUCAFE’s system of operation is premised on the Farmer Ownership Model (FOM) and is implemented using the Farmer Group – Association framework, which is designed to help small scale coffee farmers to adopt a business view of farming and organize themselves to assume as many roles in the value chain as possible to keep pace with market and consumer demands. Over the last five years Nucafe has improved its service delivery and its institutional capacity. Nucafe is actively servicing some 7,000 farmers and the challenge is to consolidate this support. However, in spite of support to its activities by various donors, Nucafe cannot generate sufficient own income to become financially sustainable and is not able to meet its overhead costs. The main goal of this project is to continue empowering farmers to profitably commercialize coffee for enhanced incomes of farmers and NUCAFE’s own financial sustainability. Specific attention in 2011 is given to support the business managers and to strengthen the bulking hubs.